PT with OT technology

We all know that the reason GL waited for a long time to make the PT was because he wanted digital technology to progress to the stage where the vision he had for the PT could be fully realised.

I've been thinking about this and wondering how well the PT could have been made without CGI. Of course, none of would have looked as good but if CGI didn't exist, but that wouldn't matter. Older techniques using mattes, models etc. would have been the state-of-the-art and we would have been as blown away by it, if it were done well, as we were with the OT when it was made, using these techniques.

So, a couple of questions. Imagine no CGI. What things in the PT could have been done well with older techniques, and how? Also, what things would have been absolutely impossible, and why?

Here's a few to start with:

Could be done

Coruscant: Shots from space could be just matte paintings. Shots of the cityscape could be done with highly detailed minatures a la Bladerunner, with the sky as a matte. After all, much of Coruscant was realised by digital compositing of real minatures, not just digital models.

Jar Jar: I think it could maybe work with just Ahmed Best in a suit and highly animatronic 'hero' head. He can do the walk (which ILM used for motion capture) so I think it could work.

Naboo scenery: Wideshots of palaces etc. could be just mattes. We would lose things like waterfalls but that's no big deal. Street level dynamic shots could be done on location in e.g. Italy.

Podrace: If you look at the scenes in TESB where the MF is being chased over/in/around the large asteroid, perhaps come of these techniques could be used here. Anakin POV shots could be done with a camera flying though a large model landscape. Sky matte painting could be comped in, as could other podracers, shot with bluescreen.

Trade Federation droids: Could be done if the design was modified to have people in suits.

Gungans vs. droids battle: Maybe. Gungans and droids realised with people in suits? It would cost a lot to produce so many costumes, but we're only thinking about technological limitations, not financial ones. Larger creatures could be done like the banthas (elephants in suits!) TF tanks could be remote controlled robots.

Gunga city: Matte paintings for wide shots and set for shots inside the city. The only problem would be creating the effect when the Jedi walk though the membrane. That could be replaced with an airlock.

Couldn't be done

Yoda: Not fighting, anyway. There's no way that could be done with a puppet. Also, the high degree of interaction with Count Dooku rules out minatures and stop motion.

Battle of Geonosis: Just far, far too complex.

Kamino: The city could be built with minatures, but it would be impossible to get a small volume of water to behave like an roiling ocean.

Droid foundry: Again, just too complex.

On the whole, I think a credible version of TPM could be made without digital technology, but I'm more doubtful about AOTC.

what about using cg only when it was necessary, say using puppet yoda for talking and then cg for fighting. models for spaceships, real clonetroopers etc

That's a good question. Undoubtedly, there's a lot of unnecessary CGI in the PT and films generally these days, because, e.g., it's easier and cheaper to digitally comp Hayden and Natalie in front of a forest matte than transport them and a film crew to a real one.

That's not really what I want to focus on here though. I'd just like to assume that CGI doesn't exist, and ask how well the PT could be made using older techniques.

Coruscant traffic/chase: A fairly good representation of the cityscape could be done with minatures and a background matte, but the traffic would have been impossible. There's just too much of it to use the only non-CGI technique that could be used for such things, i.e. bluescreen. Also, forget about the Coruscant chase in AOTC.